


The Phantom's Flight

by RandomPanda



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Persona 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 14:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomPanda/pseuds/RandomPanda
Summary: The main part of the plan is done. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get out of the station with Sae.I need sleep. And food. And a drink.(Spoilers for November 20.)





	The Phantom's Flight

Sae shuts the door behind her, leaving me alone in the interrogation room. Now I have to wait, and ignore the lingering pain in my everywhere, until she returns. Easier said than done.

She has my phone. This should be enough. I should be all set. And hopefully, I’ll live through the next ten minutes.

I try to stay calm, but this heartbeat does anything but organize my thoughts. Screw that truth serum. Most of its effects have worn off, but my head still hurts. I keep thinking I missed a step, but what? No, Sae heard me out. She believes me. She has the phone. She knows who to show it to, right? Sounded like she knew, but did she assume right? Was there more?

The bruises bite. Same with the not-quite-dry clothes. Been struggling to ignore them since I woke up from the police beat down, plus the water they threw in my face. Thanks for that, Officer Ass Hat. At least nothing feels broken, but everything hurts anyway. Crap, how am I going to heal these injuries?

No. No. Think about that later. I have to survive this first.

And I need Sae to come back to do it.

I don’t know how long I sit there. The seconds tick by, though, and no one with a gun walks in. Not a random officer, and not Akechi the traitor. But also not Sae.

As more time passes, I grow more tense, but not just from fear. Some of it stems from giddiness. If Akechi arrived here around the time Sae finished interrogating me, both of them should be in her Palace now.

The full plan came back to me a short while ago. The reason I need Sae and Akechi to run into each other is so she can show him my phone. That should give Futaba enough time to access the Meta Nav on it remotely. If these steps went off right, then Akechi should be on his way to this room—or rather, a perfect replica of this room made by Sae’s Palace. It’ll include an identical duplicate of me, too. Akechi will shoot the fake me, maybe brag about his victory first. He’ll leave and tell his boss I’ve committed suicide, and all their cohorts will sell that story to the news.

Meanwhile, I’ll walk out alive, right under their noses, with greater knowledge of who Akechi’s working for. Exactly as my friends and I planned it.

I’d rein in my excitement if I weren’t tired, bruised up, hungry, and thirsty. When was the last time I ate or drank anything? No, not important. I should focus. Can’t relax yet.

Something could go wrong—something we didn’t account for. Whenever we travel to and from the Palaces, we always feel a slight pulse. Akechi’s the same, so he _may_ feel the pulse when the Meta Nav activates. However, the feeling’s so fleeting and slight, it’s easy to miss. I don’t pay it any mind myself these days, so I can’t imagine Akechi does, either.

I hope Sae isn’t caught on her way back. When she returns, we’ll have to hatch an escape plan. How will we leave without anyone noticing? Brain, clear up already.

Finally, after who knows how long, Sae slips inside and closes the door. Thank goodness. She doesn’t sit in the chair before me, but she returns my phone. I slide it into my pocket.

“I told the guard outside to leave, so it’s just us,” she says. “I’m glad you’re okay, but stay here a while longer. I need to arrange some things so we can sneak out. Sit tight. I’ll have a route set up soon.”

She’s gone a moment later, moving fast and quiet. So far, so good.

I take out my phone. The conspiracy big wigs probably won’t track this. According to Sae, they were having trouble breaking the encryption on it. Granted, she also said it was a matter of time until they did, but at this point, they have no reason to. Not when they think I’m dead.

Futaba set the encryption in place but made sure I could use it like normal. The screen’s a little scratched up, and other scratches mar the back. A quick glance through my most used apps shows nothing suspicious, but Futaba can do a thorough check later. The one app I’m not worried about is the Meta Nav. I doubt there’s any code that can crack supernatural tech.

Whether due to the drugs or the soreness, I click the Meta Nav. It asks if I want to travel to Sae’s Palace and ends with, “The destination will be deleted in sixty minutes.”

Wait. _Will_ be deleted? So the Palace is still up somehow. Why?

When we raided Palaces in the past, stealing the Treasure would bring the whole place down. But for this one, we never took Sae’s Treasure in order to fool Akechi with Metaverse mechanics. Sae _did_ change her views on the situation while interrogating me, though, and a similar thing didn’t occur with the other Palace rulers. Is that the x factor here?

If so, I can work with this. It’d make leaving without a trace easy. My injuries also can’t slow us down if I don’t have any.

But a camera hangs in the upper-left corner across the room. Didn’t Officer Ass Hat say video evidence would be useless? If true, his allies must not be watching. Haven’t been, since they brought me here. Why else would they so readily beat the stuffing out of me for info?

Joke’s on them. They won’t see my vanishing act. Neither them nor Akechi.

Yeah. I’ll do it.

No one’s outside, so the app won’t reach far enough to affect anyone but me. I tap the Meta Nav, and in a blink, I’m in Sae’s Palace. I stay seated and summon Pixie, one of my who-knows-how-many Personas. She’s not the strongest Persona by any stretch, but she has enough healing power for what I need. Besides, I’m too worn out for anything bigger. Just summoning Pixie has left me breathless.

The little fairy extends her arms and casts a light on me. Gradually, all the pain fades. One particular sore spot on my face stops hurting altogether. The same holds true for the ache from a kick, strain in both my arms, and the chafes on my wrists from the cuffs I’m not wearing anymore. The spell finishes, and Pixie disappears.

Well, I don’t hurt anymore… but now I’m exhausted as hell. Right. Using Personas and their magic draw on my energy reserves. I haven’t felt a hundred percent since… I don’t know. A day ago, maybe?

I need sleep. And food. And a drink.

Upon returning to the real world, the phone goes into my pocket, and I lean back in the chair. For now, I catch my breath. Not a bad thing to do. I try not to doze off, but the dimness of the room makes it hard. Doesn’t help me keep track of time, either.

After another agonizing wait, Sae comes back. She hasn’t dropped her usual stern expression, but a tiny hint of relief is there. Also confusion.

“Somehow, you look better _and_ worse than you did when I last saw you,” she says. “I won’t ask how your bruises disappeared. Questions for later. At any rate, I secured a route we can use. No one will notice us.” Without breaking stride, she helps me stand.

I take a couple deep breaths. “Where’s Akechi?”

“He left already. Probably long gone by now.”

Great. I grab my phone again. “Hang on.”

An eyebrow rises on Sae’s face. “What are you doing?”

“Giving us insurance.”

The app indicates we have twenty minutes left. Plenty of time. I press the OK button, and the pulse comes and goes. Sae looks around a bit, but she remains calm. We shuffle into the empty hall afterwards. The elevator sits at the other end, and soon, we’re in it. My hands shake during the entire ride up.

When the elevator stops and opens up, Sae leads us through the police station. We pass numerous white walls and dark floors, but no personnel. Sae says the upper parts of the building are seeing all the chaos. The few people we do see stand too far off to spot us, although since we’re in the Palace, it wouldn’t matter if they did.

I may have gone overboard with the “insurance,” but maybe not. I have no idea if any cameras are hidden anywhere—cameras the conspirators are actually watching. This whole escape will fail if the police footage catches Sae and a boy who’s supposed to be dead, especially if we materialize out of thin air. So for now, we stay in the Palace.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“About three blocks down,” she answers. “We’re taking a taxi.”

Okay, good. That should be far enough away. Enough to reach the border of her Palace by walking.

The trip feels like it drags. Must be due to low energy. I miss several details along the way, save for the glaring city lights, the nighttime sky, and the chilly November air. Despite how I am now, I feel the pulse as we pass through and return to reality. Sae either doesn’t notice or chooses not to mention it. Doesn’t matter. The point is, we’re back. And the best part? Tall buildings stand between us and the police station.

We’re not at the main road yet, but Sae stops short and gives me a light nudge. “Turn your blazer inside out, and put it over your head.”

Good idea. I go ahead and do that, then follow her to a main road. Somehow, I manage this without tripping or fainting.

Sae starts waving. A taxi soon pulls up, front pointed to my left. The closest window opens with a soft _whoosh_.

The driver sounds a little lazy, but otherwise polite. “Where are you headed?”

“Yongen-jaya,” Sae answers. She hands him the fare, plus an amount of extra to make his eyes bulge. “Go straight there. Stop for nothing.”

Sae looks ready to say more, but the driver accepts the fee and extra cash without a word and unlocks the back door. Sae shuffles me in before sliding in herself. The taxi drives away, taking us farther from the station, the corrupt cops, and my would-be killers.

The adrenaline rush ends fast. I’m half asleep before the first turn. Sae checks in on me, but I can’t muster up a response. Too worn out.

The trip passes in a moving swathe of noise and light.

* * *

We arrive at Yongen-jaya in about fifteen minutes. Not many people wander the streets. Those who are don’t look at Sae and me as we sneak by. It turns out walking at a normal pace makes people ignore you, whether you wear a blazer the proper way or inside out as a makeshift hood. I fight through fatigue to appear casual. By now, I think the dizziness is more from hunger than the drugs. I’ll manage.

We reach Leblanc, and Sae peers through the glass panes on the door. “No one’s there but Mr. Sakura…” So she knocks.

I look up and see Sojiro fly from the counter. He meets us in half a second. I can hear him struggle not to yell. “What in the—?”

“Hide him for a while,” Sae tells him. “I’ll explain tomorrow.”

She walks off. To where, I’m not sure. She must’ve thought of a nondescript route back to her home. The taxi trip provided plenty of time for it, and Sae’s the kind of person to plan ahead. I hope she stays safe.

Meanwhile, Sojiro ushers me into Leblanc. He grabs a water bottle from the fridge, and we rush to his house. Again, no one spots us, so we arrive after a short walk.

Sojiro’s silent as he drags me through the front door, down to the end of the hall, and into the TV room. He leaves me there with the water bottle, and I guzzle it down. Water never tasted so good. I plop onto the couch and almost pass out there and then.

But somehow, I don’t. Is it the shaking? Why am I still shaking?

I hear Sojiro scurrying all over the house. Eventually, he comes back with a set of spare clothes, which find their way to the couch. A blanket follows, landing in my lap.

Sojiro closes the curtains and starts grumbling. “Well, you don’t look dead, but you’re about to. If you’ve got it in you, change your clothes and sleep.”

Wow. Someone other than Morgana saying I should sleep. What a day this has been. No, night. It’s nighttime now.

Anyway, I’m glad to change out of my school uniform. Once I’m in the clean clothes, I crash on the couch. My phone makes it to the side table tucked in the corner.

The door cracks open, and Futaba peeks in with Morgana. I give them a thumbs up, and Futaba bounces on her feet.

“Yes yes yes yes yes!” she cries. Cheers and happy tears, it sounds like.

“Let him rest!” Sojiro hisses from the hall.

Futaba covers her mouth. “Sorry! Good-night, Ren! You did a great job!”

“Don’t forget the cat!”

And there they go. Squeals from Futaba, grumbling from Sojiro, meows and snark from Morgana. The hall’s alive with comedy show antics, and I’m missing out. Darn.

I give my phone one more look for the night. The Meta Nav says Sae’s Palace is gone now. In the chat, a bunch of messages from friends and acquaintances have piled up. I’ll check through them in the morning.

But wait… hold on. The latest message is from one of the absolute last people I would’ve expected to hear from. It makes me forget, for a split second, that I’m dead tired.

It’s a message from Mom. A simple one. _“Are you okay?”_

According to the time stamp, it just came in. Like, five minutes ago—five past ten. That is uncanny timing. _Really_ uncanny. I swear she’s psychic sometimes. There’s no way she could’ve known what happened, but I don’t care. This has made my night.

I settle on writing, _“I’m fine,”_ and hit send. The phone goes to the side table. I cocoon myself in the blanket and rest my head on a square-shaped pillow.

Only then does it hit me. I heard Sojiro, Futaba, and Morgana. I have texts to read from everyone I know. I’ll meet up with my friends. I can thank Mom for being awesome. I’ll see tomorrow.

After so long, I’m safe. Safe and sound.

The sense of relief lulls me to sleep.


End file.
